Happy Hallowtide!

You use this word more than you realize (at least once a week!), when we pray the Lord's Prayer -- "Our Father, who art in Heaven, HALLOWED be Thy name"

As an adjective, "hallowed" means "holy, consecrated, sacred, or revered."

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November 1 is All Saints Day, also called "Hallowmas" or "Hallows' Mass" - a holy day to honour all the saints and martyrs, both known and unknown. So, October 31, the night before "Hallowmas" is "Hallows' Even" (evening), which shortens to "Halloween"

This is the same naming tradition as "Christmas" and "Christ's Mass"; the day before "Christ's Mass" is our "Christmas Eve".

November 2 is All Souls' Day

Remember that Christmas Eve (December 24), through Epiphany (January 5) make up "Christmastide", our season of Christ's Mass; and the fifty days of Easter through Pentecost are "Eastertide", our Paschal Season.

So October 31 through November 2 make up Hallowtide, or the season of Hallowmas.

Appropriately, Hallowtide begins The Month of Holy Souls. November is a special time in Catholic tradition to remember and pray for friends and relatives who have died.

Spoiler alert: This month of remembering the dead is followed closely by Advent -- our anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ, bringer of Salvation and the Promise of Eternal Life... it's almost like the Church planned this...

Collect pictures, letters, or other reminders of departed relatives and friends, to display in your home. Pray for--and with-- your deceased loved ones, beginning on Halloween and all through November.

Remember also, to pray for the souls of all our brothers and sisters in Christ who have departed this physical life (especially those who have no one else to pray for them):

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.